The Weatherman Report

SMALLTIME ARCHIPHILE:

The Bachman House

Chicago has had characters â€“ both architects and buildings â€“ throughout itâ€™s development as a place where things get built, regardless of if people want it or not. Bruce Goff, a transplanted Chicagoan, was a character and produced them. Goff was a child prodigy that started practicing architecture at 12-fucking-years-old and was doing weird things before they were cool i.e. Pre-PoMo; hell, pre-WWII.

The Bachman house was completed in 1947 and landmarked in the 1980s. This single-family home sports a straight-up sheet metal faÃ§ade thatâ€™s closer to a shed than a home. The sharp triangulation and peak of the Bachman House roof volume gets bisected by an even more acute triangle, held up by two symmetrical equilateral ones â€“ architects did love drawing with their triangles! The front and center in-your-face nature of this bungalow only gets weirder by placing it within a typical Chicago neighborhood laden with brick 3-flats and masonry walk-ups. Goffâ€™s fortress (many people compare his work to castles) does not embrace local flavor superficially. Instead, it totally engages with Chicagoâ€™s, â€œbuild first and ask questions laterâ€ attitude to architectural culture. Unfortunately, that approach comes with a disclaimer that the Daleyâ€™s and Rahm both espouse: â€œnothing or no one stands in the way of development.â€ Meaning not even landmark status can save buildings anymore in Chicago.

Maybe they didnâ€™t get the memo that architects are used to projects never getting built, let alone mostly working in virtual reality, so you can kill a building but you canâ€™t kill architecture.

Featuring work generated rounds of Harkins’ own game, Native American Fax Machine is on view through May 25th at Happy Collaborationists. If these .gif’s are any indication (which they obviously are), this show is definitely worth checking out. Bonus points for contributing to the landline trend! The instructions for your own round of Native American Fax Machine are included below:

A game played with 6 or more players.
Each player selects a card with a noun.
Each player has 3 minutes to draw the noun.
The players move the drawings clockwise.

Players then have 1 minute to copy the drawing.
Players pass the drawings until they have made the same amount of copies as players.
The last person to draw the noun has to guess the original noun on the card.

Composite of “caribou” from the NAFM

.gif of “caribou” from the NAFM

E-Dogz: ZomÂ­bie ApocÂ­aÂ­lypÂ­tic Refuge Center

Something to ease the loss of “Walking Dead”

When the zomÂ­bie apocÂ­aÂ­lypse goes down, weâ€™ll all have to think on their toesâ€“ watchÂ­ing our backs as we hit the roadsâ€“ escapÂ­ing the ravÂ­enÂ­ous army of undead relentÂ­lessly purÂ­suÂ­ing our craÂ­nial tisÂ­sues. The livÂ­ing will have to eat too and the mobile kitchen of E-Dogz will be a beaÂ­con of nourÂ­ishÂ­ment in these end days. Eric â€œE-Dogâ€ May has teamed up with Rimas Simaitis to equip the food trailer to travel land and sea, feedÂ­ing the peoÂ­ple in these dyer times. The zomÂ­bie plague actuÂ­ally began genÂ­erÂ­aÂ­tions ago, conÂ­jured through black magic by Voodoo priests on island nations durÂ­ing the glory days of the high seas. To honor the zomÂ­bie resisÂ­tance of yore, E-Dogz: ZomÂ­bie ApocÂ­aÂ­lypse Refuge CenÂ­ter will host a tiki party to ward off zomÂ­bies and serve up doomsÂ­day cuiÂ­sine and cirÂ­cuses. This event may feaÂ­ture, but will not be limÂ­ited to: Spam nigiri, entoÂ­mophagy (look it up), flamÂ­ing cockÂ­tails, and/or coconut short wave radios.

Ok, so somehow this week devolved into madness, and here I am, to do a last minuet post for my weekly top 5. Being slightly indisposed at the moment, the top 5 pick is being scrapped this week for a longer list of: “Well, it looks like it has potential…” Enjoy!